Little Sores

Amaranth · 11-22-2019, 09:03 PM

I'm not too worried, but would still like more experienced opinions.

Teddy has two little sores on his back/shoulder blade area. They don't look infected, and when I rubbed my thumb across them, he didn't show any signs of distress, so it's not hurting him. At first I thought it was his log hideout, so I pulled it from his bin a month ago, but the sores since then got a bit bigger. Could he just have accidentally scratched himself?

Ria P · 11-23-2019, 01:29 AM

Could he have rubbed it on the spindle of his wheel?

Amaranth · 11-23-2019, 10:56 AM

I'll check, but he hardly runs on his wheel

Pebbles82 · 11-24-2019, 04:59 AM

Which wheel is it? He probably runs in it during the night when you're asleep. Sorry if it's a silly question as you probably already know, but is the wheel big enough? If he actually isn't running in it then that is usually because it's uncomfortable if too small. Also the spindle is more likely to rub if it's too small.

Have a good check of any wood items - some bark wood can have sharp knobbly bits and some wood items are made with nails and a nail can actually be partly sticking out (especially if the wood has been chewed).

Amaranth · 11-24-2019, 10:57 AM

I'll definitely give his wheel a twice over and replace if necessary. Someone in a Facebook hamster group told me to put Neosporin on his sores to help heal. Is that safe? It won't hurt him if he somehow manages to get some in his mouth?

AmityvilleHams · 11-24-2019, 11:19 AM

I wouldn't risk it. Neosporin is often used on reptiles, but the major difference there is that they're not grooming themselves and ingesting a potentially harmful product(which, yes, neosporin is potentially harmful).

A high quality coconut oil might help, but it wouldn't be healthy to ingest a large amount of any oil. The reason for this is that coconut oil has natural antibacterial properties and is known to help cuts, scrapes, etc heal faster(just as a fun fact probably avoid coconut oil on rashes since oils can help spread irritants and such further causing an even bigger reaction). It can be a bit sticky and unfortunately coconut oil can sometimes be a little messy when first applied so that is a good consideration, however you can help this by using a very small amount of oil and making sure it gets thoroughly absorbed into the skin before putting a hamster back into their cage.